A few days a go a friend from work gave me a huge bag of basil! I was so mad at myself for not growing basil this summer because it can be so expensive for just a little bit at the store. So, now I’m making up for not using basil as much as I would have liked to this summer and I’ve been making all the basil infused recipes my green little heart desires!
First up are these Basil Lemon White Bean Toasts with Tomato. Because who doesn’t like toasts?! They are basically open faced sandwiches, but I like to think that calling them “Toasts” makes me sound fancier. Or maybe I should have called them crostini… Oh well! Either way they are delicious and eating them open faced lets you get a good look at all the bright and beautiful colors that go into them.
Another thing I love about these toasts is that they only take about 10 minutes to assemble. And I get to use my favorite kitchen appliance ever, my food processor! Summer in the desert is really, really hot. And although I keep the AC blasting all day and night, it seems like one of the rules of summer is that you shouldn’t spend more than 20 minutes in the kitchen preparing a meal.
While I have been known to break that rule when it comes to making dinner, I’ve been pretty good at following it for my lunches. These toasts are filling, packed with flavor, and done in only about 10 minutes, which makes me pretty happy! And I hope that things like that make you happy too š
Happy last day of August!
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Basil, Lemon and White Bean Toasts with Tomato
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 1x
Ingredients
- 1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, rinsed drained with liquid reserved
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3/4 cup packed basil leaves
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 2–3 large tomatoes, sliced
- 1/2 purple onion, thinly sliced
- 8–10 pieces of bread
- Optional toppings: freshly cracked black pepper, salt, basil leaves, olive oil
Instructions
- Place the beans, lemon, basil, tahini, garlic, salt and pepper into a food processor and let run. Slowly add the reserved bean liquid into the food processor until desired texture is achieved. I only used about 2 teaspoons in mine. Water can also be substituted for reserved bean liquid.
- Toast bread and then spread with 2-3 tablespoons of the white bean mixture. Top each toast with sliced tomato, red onion, salt, pepper, basil leaves and a small drizzle of olive oil, if desired.
Notes
You don’t have to assemble all toasts at once, white bean dip can be kept in the refrigerator for about 5 days.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Category: Lunch, Gluten Free, Vegan
I totally know what you mean about not wanting to cook for too long during the hot summer! We don’t have AC in our new place, so I’ve been trying to limit my usage of the oven too. This looks like the perfect quick meal, Izzy! I love bean dips and spreads, and especially like how you added basil to this. I must make this soon!
Oh I love the sound of these!! Perfect for lunch and dinner! And agreed – basil is the one thing I try to grow every year since it is sooo expensive to buy and I use it all the time in the summer!!
Basil, lemon, and white bean sound amazing together- pinning!
I think using the word toast is much better than crostini. Toasts are something I can eat as a meal but crostinis are usually just appetizers. I could definitely eat this for lunch so toast makes perfect sense to me! š
I love that it’s so easy to make yet still healthy and packed with flavor. I have plenty of basil left in my garden so I’m thinking these will have to happen soon!
I normally have a huge basil plant that I’m desperate to use by now, but I also managed to not plant one this year :'( These toasts look aaaamazing though and totally worth splurging on some over priced basil at the store.
I really wish I would’ve grown basil this summer, too…I use it in anything that I can! This toast looks fantastic, Izzy! I love the white beans in here. Sounds so flavorful, especially with the fresh ingredients!
This is great! I can guarantee that I will probably finish it off before anyone else gets a chance to have it! š Plus it is such a handy thing to have in the fridge too! My 3-year old would love these! : )
Couldn’t agree more with everything here: my food processor is definitely my favorite appliance AND toasts does just sounds fancy. These sound awesome! Great way to savor the last day of August and all the wonderful summer produce!
What a pretty sandwich, Izzy. I love open faced sandwiches – I make them all the time and am always looking for new ideas – I’m going to be adding this to my most make list! As for growing basil, I never have any luck since it gets so hot here – the basil just shrivels up from the afternoon sun – but this year I put it in an area where it only gets sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon and it I had no problem keeping it alive all summer.